Car brake faults mere illusions: Official

Recurrent complaints by drivers about their car brake failure in the UAE are mere illusions or are intended for personal gains, according to officials.

One case involved a school boy who reported such a problem just to justify his failure in an examination after his vehicle was found intact, they said.

Another case of a panicking driver who reported his brakes were not responding but it then emerged that he was pushing a mattress on the floor not the brakes to stop the car.

“The reports about brake failure and incidents are mostly illusions. The brakes are there for decades and there have been no reports about failures in the first years of car purchase,” said Nassir Nouri, Director, Technical Inspection Centre, Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

“I tested a car reported to be suffering from a brake fault. I spent most of the day testing the car on roads closed for testing purposes, but I found there was no problem in the brakes,” he told Emarat Al Youm daily.

Nouri said the centre had received many “strange” reports about car brake problems, including that from a school boy who failed in the secondary examinations.

“He blamed the brakes failure for his failure and asked the car dealers to compensate him.”

He said that most of drivers who complained about their vehicle brakes had not filed court suits against their car dealers.

“A person who believes he is right and his life was in danger because of such a problem would naturally resort to court,” he added.

“Another case emerged to be authentic but it was not the fault of the car agency. It involved a woman who reported a brake failure in her Lexus car on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road while she was driving before Dubai’s traffic police managed to stop the car.

“It emerged later that she had a spare part bought from the agency fixed in her vehicle at a workshop outside the agency,” he said.

The paper quoted another official as saying cars imported into the UAE are subject to strict tests to ensure they have no problems and are safe to drive.

“I have supervised tests on some cars reported by their owners to have brakes problems.

“The tests showed the vehicles are completely safe and have no such problems,” said Hashim Al Nuaimi, consumer protection direct at the ministry of economy. “You can say that almost all cars sold in the UAE are totally safe. If a problem is verified, the agency is obliged to fix it to replace the car.”